V100BB
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on february 05, 2010 0 of 2 people found this review helpful

Price paid: £ 235

Purchased from: Music Land

Features: This is a 2009/10 V100 model - 22 frets, on a very thin mahogany neck - The finish can range from gloss black, to gloss traditional sunburst. I has gold/silver hardware and appart from the head, it looks exactly like a real 'Vintage' guitar! - It has a Tune-O-Matic bridge - Traditional Wilkinson pickups commonly used by Vintage. Controls include 2 volume and tone for the Rhythm and Tone settings. // 9

Sound: This guitars has an amazing sound, it can be said that many kinds of music can be played on it. I use it mainly for Rock, ACDC/Black Sabbath, that kind of stuff. Thought I can still use it for Metal like H.I.M. And Disturbed. It also has a beautiful clean tone on it, I was able to play delicate song such as Tears in Heaven with a beautiful tone! I use a Line 6 Spider IV, and it matches perfectly. I cannot say if it has a rich/full sound as it has both and best of all it has no background noise as long as you have the noise gate turned on on your amp. Differs in sound can be: Jimi Hendrix - Nickelback - Eric Clapton - Black Sabbath - The Darkness - Fallout Boy - Greenday - Evanescence I Could Go On And On! // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was set up ready to use when I received it! The action is lower than my Ibanez RG which is surprising! However I did have to raise and lower the pickups a bit to get the perfect tone and volume that I wanted, but that is expected for any guitar you'll buy! It had no flaws or marks of any kind and I intend to keep it that way! The strap nuts are also brilliant, they will give amazing hold while playing live which I have done so dropping it is never an issue! // 10

Reliability & Durability: This guitar really will live up to stage and live playing, its built perfectly and is sturdy! The hardware is always reliable however there are some other pickups out there for example that are better, But For The Price these are great! I would certainly be comfortable to use this live without a backup. I did buy some EMG pickups but they were expensive and not really needed, I simply enjoy the sound of EMGs. // 9

Overall Impression: I play all kinds of music; rock, punk, clean and metal. It can play all of those genres! I have been playing for around 4 years and I have owned the older V100, This Is Alot Better Than The V100! I also own, an Ibanez RG350DX and a Squire Bullet Strat. I am very pleased with this buy because of the improvement of the V100, if this was stolen I would certainly go and buy this guitar again! I love its Slash (Velvet Revolver) look and how it makes pinch harmonics 2nd nature, Its Very Easy! I compared it to the VS6 (SG copy) though I owned that before and I fancied the Les Paul Copy. If you want a Les Paul Copy for an affordable price then This Is The Guitar For You! Don't be put off by the label of Vintage! This 2009/10 version makes a big difference! // 10

Must..resist..urge..to...say bad things...erk D:
Ah well. If I have to say ONE bad thing, is that its very advertisment-ish O.0 And as what seems to be the basic rule of guitar reviews on UG these days, something played through a Line 6 Spider doesnt deserve a 10 for sound..
I'm just saying what someone else will eventually say.

I've only heard good things about these guitars recently
When I started out, they were using plastic for most of the hardware, but my understanding is that since Trev Wilkinson took over they've progressed in leaps and bounds.

"...and best of all it has no background noise as long as you have the noise gate turned on on your amp..."
lol... Yeah the same can be said about every piece of musical equipment ever. The whole point of the noise gate is to ensure there ism't any unwanted noise.

EpiExplorer wrote:
Must..resist..urge..to...say bad things...erk D:
Ah well. If I have to say ONE bad thing, is that its very advertisment-ish O.0 And as what seems to be the basic rule of guitar reviews on UG these days, something played through a Line 6 Spider doesnt deserve a 10 for sound..
I'm just saying what someone else will eventually say.

Just a matter of opinion really. The reviewer likes Line 6, it's cool. I've owned two Line 6 amps (old spyder, HD147) in my time with no regret and I credit those amps with building the foundation for me to still play.

crazywatermelon wrote:
I seriously doubt that a 300$ guitar will get a 10 on sound and action
It is just a mater of opinion...

Actually, they are very good guitars, I mean, I've got a MIK Tokai and a MIM Fender Strat with pretty much all American made hardware (pickups, tuners, bridge, you name it) and I still love the sound off my stock V100.

^ To lgc Metallica: A lot of cheap guitars nowadays are extremely good bang for your buck. Realise that quality vs Cost really doesn't increase proportionally. Another "mass made" guitar 3x the price generally won't be 3x as good.
A few years back I played a 150 Jim Deacon Les Paul, and it outshone a lot of the high end epiphone guitars, on par with your average Tokai Love Rock, that sort of range. They were more consistent, too, I didn't find a dud one.

Sound is a matter of preference to everyone who says " a 300 guitar through a spider cannot sound good I mean, people on this website say it so it must be true!." Seriously guys, if he thinks it sounds good he'd give it a 10 if he didn't he wouldn't give it anything + this is a pretty damn good guitar, I'd have bought one if I had the money when I bought my second guitar.

EpiExplorer wrote:
Must..resist..urge..to...say bad things...erk D:
Ah well. If I have to say ONE bad thing, is that its very advertisment-ish O.0 And as what seems to be the basic rule of guitar reviews on UG these days, something played through a Line 6 Spider doesnt deserve a 10 for sound..
I'm just saying what someone else will eventually say.

See that wasnt so hard was it? You're learning! +1 I do agree with you however.

Actually, these V100's are amazing for the price. The pickups leave something to be desired, and the hardware could be better, but still I feel you get more than you pay for. I mean, come on - 235 GBP? I've seen a lot worse for much more cash.

I've played a lot of Vintage guitars and they definitely are very, very good for the money - in the UK you can't get a better Les Paul in the under-800 price range than the Vintage Advance AV1. However, this V100 is a couple of steps down from that, I've played a couple and it really does not deserve a 9 or 10 in any department. It's a decent guitar for the money but anyone giving one of these a 9 or a 10 in anything other than value for money clearly hasn't had any experience with any actual 9-or-10-worthy guitars.

Actually, just to add on to my above comments - the Vintage Advance AV1, which is an upgrade to the V100 in every single regard, usually costs about 200-220. So the V100 for 235 is actually quite a rip-off in this instance.

celticstorm84 wrote:
EpiExplorer wrote:
Must..resist..urge..to...say bad things...erk D:
Ah well. If I have to say ONE bad thing, is that its very advertisment-ish O.0 And as what seems to be the basic rule of guitar reviews on UG these days, something played through a Line 6 Spider doesnt deserve a 10 for sound..
I'm just saying what someone else will eventually say.
Just a matter of opinion really. The reviewer likes Line 6, it's cool. I've owned two Line 6 amps (old spyder, HD147) in my time with no regret and I credit those amps with building the foundation for me to still play.

Sure if he likes the sound well enough that's good, but to review a guitar using that amp isn't great, any solid state amps I've used haven't shown much of a difference between a good guitar and a shit guitar.

lgcmetallica wrote:
no way that a guitar less than $500 is as good as a ten

You naive little ponce. It's based on value for money, and believe it or not, cheap guitars can sound good. Why must you base your guitar knowledge on numerical values?
Now go and play whatever cheap guitar you own. Hypocrite.

richard_edwards wrote:
lgcmetallica wrote:
no way that a guitar less than $500 is as good as a ten
You naive little ponce. It's based on value for money, and believe it or not, cheap guitars can sound good. Why must you base your guitar knowledge on numerical values?
Now go and play whatever cheap guitar you own. Hypocrite.

But it is kinda misleading. If this gets a 10 then what does a 3000 Les Paul get?

Jesstaa wrote:
celticstorm84 wrote:
EpiExplorer wrote:
Must..resist..urge..to...say bad things...erk D:
Ah well. If I have to say ONE bad thing, is that its very advertisment-ish O.0 And as what seems to be the basic rule of guitar reviews on UG these days, something played through a Line 6 Spider doesnt deserve a 10 for sound..
I'm just saying what someone else will eventually say.
Just a matter of opinion really. The reviewer likes Line 6, it's cool. I've owned two Line 6 amps (old spyder, HD147) in my time with no regret and I credit those amps with building the foundation for me to still play.
Sure if he likes the sound well enough that's good, but to review a guitar using that amp isn't great, any solid state amps I've used haven't shown much of a difference between a good guitar and a shit guitar.

So I guess the answer is, "EVERYONE BUY SOLID-STATE AMPS, AND SAVE YOURSELF THE COST OF A GOOD GUITAR!"

All joking aside, I'm sure we've all played some shitty "starter" guitars. Hell, I've OWNED at least 3. But, every now and then, when you least expect it, something sneaks thru and you find yourself loving the tone on that 1981 Memphis paul copy that you bought with your graduation money... (Sound familiar?)
Would I like a Line 6? Sure. Who wouldn't? But, there's one thing to remember. Not everyone wants all the extra crap that comes with it. Why pay for something that does 1150 things, but you only need it to do 20...25 max?
I guess what I'm saying is, if you bring the amp you plan to use when you're buying a guitar, you can find some real nice sounds from an axe that didn't rape your wallet.

richard_edwards wrote:
lgcmetallica wrote:
no way that a guitar less than $500 is as good as a ten
You naive little ponce. It's based on value for money, and believe it or not, cheap guitars can sound good. Why must you base your guitar knowledge on numerical values?
Now go and play whatever cheap guitar you own. Hypocrite.

Guitars values, at least these days, are based more on brand recognition and marketing budgets than quality. Anyone ever played a Univox Hi-Flier? They play and sound amazing. I bought 2 in pawn shops years ago. I paid 140 for one and 120 for the other. A good guitarist is going to sound like a good guitarist no matter what he or she is playing. Stop arguing and start playing, you'll be a little better at the end of the day, and won't feel like you need a 2,000 dollar guitar to be good!

scorpio2billion A good guitarist is going to sound like a good guitarist no matter what he or she is playing. Stop arguing and start playing, you'll be a little better at the end of the day, and won't feel like you need a 2,000 dollar guitar to be good!

Some mahogany, a little rosewood, a few electronics and assorted hardware. That's an electric guitar. scorpio2billion is right... wasn't that long ago that blues players were turning out great sound on some very hard to play planks... that didn't stop them. Keep playing those squire strats, epiphones, and vintage guitars... they are no better or worse than the chap who picks it up to play.